


The Ski Instructor

by mydrtylilsecret



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Bottom Harry, Fluff and Smut, French Louis, If you want a how-to-snowboard lesson this is it, Liam is a sap, Louis is a ski instructor, M/M, Niall's done with all the PDA, Skiing, They're basically disgusting, Top Louis, Val d'Isere, Zayn is just cute and giggly most of the time, and it's 3am already, larry - Freeform, larry stylinson - Freeform, mostly fluff but I don't know yet, no stunts, not the kind of skiing trip you'd expect, obviously, only a side Ziam tho, partially, unless you want me to change it, ziam
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-07
Updated: 2016-01-07
Packaged: 2018-05-12 06:43:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5656411
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mydrtylilsecret/pseuds/mydrtylilsecret
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry, Niall, Liam and Zayn plan to spend their 'last winter break at the university' in France. Ski trip and New Year's Eve it is then, to Harry's delight (mind the irony).<br/>Louis is there as well and he happens to be a part of a bet. And a ski instructor.</p>
<p>IDK tell me if worth carrying on...</p>
<p>Oh and please comment or DM me if you'd want to BETA, I really need someone since English is not my mother tongue. Thanks x</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Ski Instructor

**Author's Note:**

> Doing a research for this so it's actually accurate is such fun. I feel I I've already been there, haha. ( I wish)  
> Will probably even add some pictures later, so you know what it looks like or what they're wearing, if that's okay?

Having somebody jumping into your bed, screaming at the top of their lungs, is not something you want to wake up to on the first day of a new year. Especially when you're severely hungover, actually possibly still a bit drunk. VMostly probably. And not sure if even wearing any clothes. Hang on. Nope. Completely naked.

That's how Harry's first morning of 2016 went. What a lovely morning. Seriously. He mumbled a _fuck off_ and covered his face with a pillow.

"Come on, Styles!" There it was again. The obnoxious Irish accent, right next to Harry's left ear, and a pair of skinny legs straddling his waist. "It's yer big day today, so get that pretty arse out of that bed, now!"

Big day? What's that idiot on about? Harry was about to voice his thoughts when the door to his room slammed open.

"Hey, you still didn't wake him up, Niall?" He heard Liam's voice and a soft chuckle, initiating that Zayn walked in with him. Well, that wasn't really unexpected as those two were never too far from each other.

"Working on it. You two could make yourself useful and help me, ye know?" Niall whined but it obviously didn't have the desired effect as there was just a double laugh and no movement from the couple. Harry let out a frustrated groan and threw his pillow in their direction.

"What is it that you just can't let me sleep and why it looks like I'm the only one with a hangover?" He finally opened his eyes and grunted when Niall suddenly wiggled his bum on his stomach.

Liam took a swig of beer and passed the bottle to Zayn. "Well, can't really be hungover if we haven't stopped drinking yet, can we?" He explained and Harry squinted at him, praying for once that shooting daggers from one's eyes was actually possible. Life is cruel. These two... uh huh, no, all three of them could drink any amount of alcohol while he got pissed after only a couple of drinks. Definitely not fair.

He huffed in annoyance and pressed his palms against his eyes. What time was it? And did that mean they still haven't slept yet? And when did Harry even get to bed? Um, and how? He tried to remember last night's events and Niall chose the moment of distraction to dig his fingers into Harry's sides and started to tickle him.

"Niall, y-you lit-- piece of-haha." Harry squirmed under him and tried to catch Niall's cold hands with his, laughing. It took him a while and he shed a couple of tears, too, but eventually he managed to stop him, clutching Niall's wrist with his own long fingers. For fuck's sake, that little Irish elf was unpredictable when drunk. Harry sniffed a bit and took a deep breath before opening his mouth again, Niall still giggling and trying to attack his ribs some more.

"Seriously, lads, what's this all about?" He looked around completely clueless and the three of them exchanged a short meaningful look. That could only mean trouble. This time, Zayn was the one to speak up.

"Well, Haz, you remember the bet last night?" Harry blinked.

_A bet?_

"The one you lost." Zayn smiled lazily and leaned into his boyfriend's side. Liam took the bottle away from him and swung one arm around his shoulders.

_Shit._

"When you agreed to -" Harry's eyes flicked over to Niall, looking for any sign of how bad it really was. Niall's face was a perfect definition of smug. Harry was fucked. "- do anything we want." Zayn paused and pressed his face to Liam's neck and giggled drunkenly. Niall bounced on his knees eagerly and Harry hissed at the pressure on his lower stomach. Seriously, what did he agree to last night? He looked back to Niall and before he could even ask, Niall threw his head back and cackled.

"You have no idea, mate, do you?" He snorted at Harry's worried expression. "Well, don't fret, it's not _that_ scary." Niall continued but Harry wasn't so sure if he should trust him. After all, this was Niall we're talking about. And although Liam was usually the nicest kind of a person, he couldn't be completely trusted either. Not to mention Zayn and his freaking mood swings. He had the craziest ideas. Especially when drunk. Or high. Or both.

"Gotta admit we thought about making you take a helicopter flight or have a swim in that frozen lake we saw earlier, but ye know... That's probably too much, right?" He tried to remove his hands from the iron grip, but Harry was not having it. Knowing now, he wouldn't have to do anything as insane as what Niall just said, he relaxed a bit, but Niall's capture could still come in handy for some bargaining later. When Niall realized he wouldn't get his freedom back that easily, he just shrugged and dug his heels in Harry's sides instead. "Anyways, you better get out of the bed in like...huh...Liam?"

There was a sudden wet noise coming from the door and Niall scrunched up his face in horror. "Fucking hell, Liam, what did I tell you about that?" The said boy just barely moved his face away from where it was pressed into Zayn's collarbone and patted his back pockets for a phone. When he fished it out and unlocked it, he pushed himself away from his boyfriend and sighed. "We have about half an hour before the breakfast is over and then another 20 minutes before we need to be there." Harry still didn't know what they've set him up for and it was more than obvious they weren't going to just tell him. Ok, good. Great even.

Liam finished the beer and the bottle hit the bottom of a small trash can by the door with a thud. "Well, we'll go get some of those fancy pastries now and you -" Liam pointed at Harry, "- should take a shower and be down in ten." He finished and reached for Zayn's hand after wiping the rest of the condensation from the bottle on his jeans.

Niall made one last weak attempt at freeing himself from Harry before the latter pulled at his hands and Niall fell down, face first.

"Hey Niall?" Harry whispered, his voice deeper than usually. Niall looked up and his eyes popped out. He looked like a deer caught in the headlines and for a split of a second, Harry thought this could be a good enough comeback for earlier. He pushed his hips up just a tiny little bit and he could swear Niall stopped breathing. Finally, Harry leaned closer and let the words roll out. "You know I always sleep naked, right?"

Niall shrieked and he was out of his bed and room within a heartbeat. Harry bursted out laughing as he could hear him screaming _LiiiaaaammmLiamLiiiam_ the whole way to the elevator.

Alone at last, Harry rubbed his face with both hands and sat up. He felt a little woozy from the sudden movement but not really sick, which was a good sign. Even after sleeping for what could only be a couple of hours. Whatever his friends have planned for him, he should be able to make it out alive. He swung his feet over the edge of the mattress and stood up. _Oh wow, slow down_. Flexing his arms and shoulders he stepped over a pile of clothes, his last night outfit, most likely, and looked out of the small window. And then it all started making sense again.

The sun was already peeking out from behind the mountains and when he looked down at the parking lot, it was already busy with people getting ready for another day of skiing. Right. Mountains. Snow. New Year's Eve. Their last winter break before they finish university and start their jobs or go out travelling or whatever. Harry closed his eyes and leaned his forehead against the cold glass. Why did he ever think going to _France_ for a ski trip _and_  a New Year's Eve was a good idea. He couldn't even ski properly. He was up for any kind of party though, that's for sure.

New Year's Eve party. Oh god! The party! Of course he would get wasted and of course his sorry-excuses-for-friends would start truth or dare. If he could at least remember something. He thumped his head on the window once, twice and sighed. Well, he's about to find out soon enough so, he might as well go take that stupid shower so he doesn't smell like booze and smoke in his coffin later, if nothing else.

 

-

 

After they've finished breakfast - two plates stacked with croissants, some strawberry jam and cheese and a poor excuse for a tea, how's that even a breakfast, french people, really - they went back to their rooms to get dressed in their ski suits. Harry honestly wasn't very fond of the idea to actually go out there, hoping the rest would just let him hang out while they would be showing off their _of-fucking-course_ perfect downhill skills. He prefers keeping all his limbs attached and at the correct angle, thank you very much. But obviously, that wasn't even an option and he was forced to get his own ski jacket and pants. So forgive him for googling the first shop in London to sell winter gear and ending up spending a significant part of his savings on a matching Burton jacket and pants and some snow boots. Again, if he's about to get killed out there, he might at least look good while he's at it.

They left the 'Jardins de la Balme' hotel some 15 minutes later. Niall in lime green loose pants and a black jacket, carrying his snowboard with one hand, trying to open a can of diet coke with the other; Ziam in matching black and white ski jackets and black pants, looking like a couple of freaking stormtroopers, both carrying a pair of skis on their shoulders.

"Selfie time!" Niall called out and shoved the can towards Harry, sliding his phone camera open. They posed for a couple of pictures, some with their hotel in the background and rest with the mountains they could see from there. The whole city was located in a valley so they were completely surrounded by mountains. Harry thought the Val in Val d'Isère probably meant valley and corners of his mouth turned up at the brainwave. The lid of the can hissed loudly in the cold air and after taking a sip, Harry handed it back to Niall.

They walked down the Avenue, passing several hotels and a pizza place they agreed to try later for dinner. The whole place was busy, winter season in its full swing, NYE being a golden mine for the hotel owners and ski resorts. They turned right on the second roundaboud and that was when Harry noticed the Ski school sign. Before he could even start planning his escape, Niall and Liam have already had their arms tight around his waist, huge grins splitting their faces.

There wasn't much left to do so Harry just whined and let them lead him inside. Once there, Zayn swayed towards the reception and Harry had to ask himself yet again if he even knows his mates as much as he thought because since when can Zayn actually speak French?

Instead of thinking about it too much, he tried to distract himself by looking around the lobby. Posters on the walls and a huge picture board with what looked like polaroids of the staff with happy red faced customers or each other, drinking in a pub or having a nap ... in the actual lobby. Fun. There was a sliding glass door on the right, with what looked like rental equipment room behind it. They would probably visit it soon, if Harry's instincts were right. He almost didn't care anymore. Almost.

He only noticed Zayn was back when Liam cleared his throat in what was meant to be a subtle way and fucking _purred._ "It's so fucking hot when you speak French, babe."

Niall snorted and rolled his eyes and Zayn only giggled into his hand. "She could speak English, though, Li." He laughed and reached out for his boyfriend, sneaking both arms around his neck. "I can speak to you _en francais_ later if you want, hm?" He leaned in and was left with pouty lips right after when Niall dragged him away by the collar of his jacket, low growl being an intro to his "Quit the fucking PDA already." rant. This time Harry followed him out voluntarily, Liam in tow.

"Okay, so here's the thing." Zayn begun, once he brushed off Niall's hands of him and straightened his jacket and scarf. He pointed his finger at Harry. 

"Like it or not, you're coming up there with us today. This should be the best, or one of the best times and we're in freaking Alpes with these shitloads of snow and we simply decided we won't let you sit around while we're up there, so we booked a lesson for today, so you can put those stupidly long legs to some use."

Harry loved it when Zayn tried so hard to act dominant. Not in the sexual context, of course. Uh huh no, that was Liam's job. Not that Zayn wasn't hot or anything. _Okay, shut up._ Zayn was just a typical bottom, honestly. Acting all bossy and stuff, growing his bad boy appearance, while he was literally the perfect housewife type, pampering his boyfriend, cooking for him and doing the laundry.

But Harry wasn't really one to speak so he just shrugged and said. "Okay."

For a split of a second they were just staring at him in silence until Niall barked out a laugh. Liam startled and furrowed his fuzzy brows. "Wait, you're not mad?" He asked and Harry slowly shook his head.

"Nah, I mean I should've probably expected something like that, given the situation, so." He honestly surprised himself with how chill he was with the information, but hey, could've been a lot worse, right? "So that's what the bet was about?" He asked just to be sure he was on the same page.

And he definitely should've paid more attention to the fact their smiles dropped for a nanosecond before they showed him equally crooked ones, mumbling. "Yeah, sure, yeah, kind of?"

Dimples popping out, Harry turned around and started walking towards where he remembered the bottom station of the ski lift should be. Zayn muffled his groan in Liam's neck, happy the first part of their plan went well.

"This is going to be so much fun!" Niall yelled and jogged after Harry as quickly as his boots and snowboard allowed him.

 

-

 

 

According to the informations from the ski school, Zayn said they should take the _L'Olympique_ lift to the top of Rocher de Boulevard. It was a gondola type, so they could enjoy the view without freezing their asses off. They took some more pictures even with the car being absolutely crowded.

If they'd thought the weather was nice back down in the valley, it was absolutely incredible up there. The sun was blazing, Niall covering his whole face with sunscreen the moment they got off the ski lift, and the sky was the prettiest shade of blue and endless and the view was just plain breathtaking. Liam checked the time and they were actually right on it. Looking around he noticed the restaurant they were supposed to meet the instructor in front of and waved the others over.

Harry wouldn't tell anyone, but he had to admit this place was amazing and he was really happy he was up there with his best mates.

They stumbled towards to restaurant and waited, not really chatting, just taking it all in. Immediately, they all sobered up, a strange feeling of both excitement and peace flowing through their bodies.

A few minutes later, that peace was gone.

A particularly loud group of people exited the cable car, splitting up, putting on their skis, some of them heading straight for the downhill course, others taking a short slope towards the restaurant.

One of them definitely stood out from the crowd. He had freestyle skis on and was going backwards at the moment, talking to two other people following him. He was shouting something in French so Harry couldn't understand, but there was something about his voice that made his head snap. Niall was already gnawing at his gloves to stop himself from laughing out loud, Ziam was just eyeing him warily, expecting some shit to happen.

It all came down to Harry the moment that _loudloudloud_ guy hockey-stopped only a few feet away and flashed them a smile.

_Fuck. Fuck. Fuck._

That was all Harry could think of.

_Fuck everything and fuck his friends and fuck this guy, too. Yeah. Fuck him. Or more like. Fuck me. Please._

Harry felt like running away. Or stealing a pair of skis from the nearest person and plunging downhill. Or burrying himself in the snow. Or screaming. Or doing all that at once.

He was having - as you could say- war flashbacks from the party, involving his ridiculous crush on the guy in front of him, hitting him like a train the second he saw him in the dim light of the club last night. He remembered his friends daring him to go talk to him. He also remembered his drunken self, chickening out and getting more drinks instead and loosing the bet and. How. Exactly. It all led to this?

Niall finally calmed down and leaned into Harry's side, squeezing his shoulders with one arm. "Still up for it, mate?" He teased and Harry released a breath he didn't know he was holding. He nodded, maybe a little too enthusiastically, and Niall patted his back with approving hum.

_Peachy._

The boy in front of them was dressed in a bright red jacket with white stripes over the shoulders and the _'Ecole du Ski Français de Val d'Isère'_ logo on his chest and matching, equally bright, red ski pants. Black beanie pushed back, revealing soft chesnut fringe swiped to one side and sunglasses, hiding a pair of eyes Harry had yet to learn the colour of.

He didn't have poles in his hand, meaning he was probably skiing without them; something Harry only tried once in his life and it left scars on him. Literally. Okay, only a couple of scratches on the skin but a deeply scarred ego, too.

He slipped one hand out of the glove and waved on Zayn, standing the closest to him, to come closer. Borrowing one of his, he pressed the tip of Zayn's pole into the heel piece of the ski binding and released it, repeating the motion with the other one. With a high-pitched _Merci_ , he returned the pole to Zayn and bent over, gathering the skis and trotting over to the ski stand.

_Bent. Over._

Winter clothes or not, that was some view.

Liam was the first one to greet him, Zayn glued to his side again and Harry assumed he was the one to book him, as the French boy's face brightened up with recognition. They shook hands, gave each other a peck on both cheeks, after which Zayn's visibly pinked, and exchanged a couple of muted words. Niall was next and Harry was back to _not okay._

"Bonjour." Oh, there he was, right in front of him. 

Harry quickly took his mittens off and clasped the offered hand in his own. The size difference was striking. But before Harry even had time to freak out over the warm touch of their hands, he was pulled in and kissed on each cheek.

 _"Ravi de te connaître."_ Harry more felt the words against the skin on his neck than heard them.

His face dropped when the boy scowled. _"Oh merde. Impoli de ma part."_ He cleared his throat and teared his sunglasses off quickly.

Harry would laugh at himself for saying the sky had the prettiest blue earlier if he could remember how to actually breathe.

 _"Je m'appelle Louis et je serai ton moniteur de ski aujourd'hui."_ The French boy chirped and Harry regretted paying so little attention to the French classes he'd been taking in the first year at uni. He made a mental note to sign up for a speed learning course as soon as the winter break is over.

"Umm. I'm Harry and I'm sorry, I don't speak French that well." His shoulders hunched a little and he dropped his eyes to the ground, shame clouding them.

"Oh." A light squeeze on his wrist made him look up again. "No problem, love. I'm fine with English, too. Probably spend more time of my life on the British soil anyways." He shrugged and smiled, northern English accent loud and clear. Harry was ready to get down on one knee.

"Hey man, are you trying to say my poor attempt at French earlier was for nothing?" Zayn stepped in and pouted.

Louis laughed and shook his head. "No way, it was definitely appreciated, mate. Not many people do that. Don't even try. They just approach you assuming everyone speaks English nowadays. Which is basically true, of course, but still. Won't get very far with such demeanour here. French people honestly appreciate even the slightest effort to speak the language. So carry on with that, okay?"

Zayn huffed and gave him one of his trademark crinkly eyed smiles, pride stretching his chest double its size. Red cheeks, Liam turned to whisper something into his shoulder, drawing a gasp from Zayn and a series of giggles. Both Niall and Harry could pretty much imagine what Liam told him. 

A bit of chit chat later, Liam, Zayn and Niall singsonged their _Au revoirs_ , agreeing on meeting Harry later at the bottom ski lift station and headed towards the steep downhill course.

Louis motioned Harry towards the back of the restaurant, explaining the school had some sort of spare room to spend time in between booked lessons, if they didn't have time or didn't want to go back to the school facilities. They also had some equipment stored there and Louis was positive he would be able to find some for Harry to borrow there, too.

"So, where are you from, _'Arry_?' He asked while patting his jacket pockets for keys and Harry missed a heartbeat. Or two. Seriously. He wanted to erase the _H_ from his name from now on forever. Make it official.

Louis found the keys before Harry could even find his own voice. "Holmes Chapel. But I live in London now. We share a flat with Niall and Ziam." He shook the snow from his boots and followed Louis inside.

"Ziam?" Louis stopped and twisted around, eyebrows shooting up. Harry snorted. Of course he would use their names like that.

"Sorry, that's Zayn and Liam." He explained, contemplating if mentioning the obvious - them being a couple - was appropriate. However, with their ever present PDA, Louis definitely had to notice that and he didn't seem to mind. "They're together, so... you kind of mix the couple's names together?"

"Like a ship name?" Louis' eyes widened and Harry nodded quickly, dimples popping out. Louis blinked.

"Yeah, yes, exactly like that." He confirmed when Louis started walking again. He noticed the little curl to one corner of Louis' lips when the latter said the name was cute.

They passed a firewood wall, only a few inches from the ceiling missing. There was another door at the end of the hall and Louis stopped in front of them, unlocking it and letting Harry in first. The room was dark, but as soon as Louis flicked on the lights, a simple wooden table with one chair was revealed on their right side, along with a couch and what looked like a small RedBull fridge with a radio on it. There was a sink with a cupboard above, covered with stickers of brand logos like Nitro, 686, Horsefeathers, Vans and Burton and some more Harry never heard of before. Well, he only heard about either of them thanks to Niall and his snapback collection, anyway.

Louis dropped his jacket on the couch and squatted in front of the fridge. Harry definitely wasn't looking at his ass again. Nope.

"So, what are we actually doing today, Harry?" Louis took out two cans of RedBull, and offered one to Harry. And no, the _H_ wasn't missing this time. Harry wanted a refund.

"What do you mean?" He frowned and reached for the canned drink.

"Well, I hear you don't really do winter sports. That correct?" Oh, and we're back to 'How to embarrass Harry Styles', part two.

Despite the ice cold drink in his hand and the low temperature in the room, Harry felt the heat crawling up the back of his neck and he pulled at the zipper of his jacket clumsily.

"I guess?"

Louis smirked. "That's okay. What I mean is what are you interested in?" _You. "_ Are we skiing or snowboarding?" _Oh. That._

Harry sucked his bottom lip into his mouth, thinking. He already tried skiing before and he couldn't really call it a success, so.

"Hang on, let me guess." Louis stopped him, giving him a proper once over, taking in his clothes. Heat spread towards Harry's ears, colouring their tips in pink. When Louis' eyes found his again, there was a huge grin on his face. "Let me get changed real quick and we'll find you a nice board." He decided and turned on the spot, disappearing behind a simple wooden partition on their left side.

Harry released a deep breath and finished his drink. He's going to die, but at least he'd have a nice view.

Not even 3 minutes later, Louis came back, wearing a pair of loose pants, this time a raspberry shade of red, hanging low on his hips. He had a tight black thermal long sleeve crew neck and was pulling a black Adidas hoodie over his head, messing up his hair completely in the process. He noticed Harry staring at it, failing to hide his smile, and only shrugged and put his beanie back on.

"Let's see how yours is going to look after we're done here, dear Harold." He mocked, but Harry caught him smirking before Louis had time to hide his mouth in a sleeve.

"Alright, let's get to work." he rubbed his hands together and gave Harry a curious look. "How tall are you?"

"Um. Six feet?" Harry didn't know, he used to crouch a lot around his friends and he honestly haven't seen a measuring tape for ages.

Louis tapped his bottom lip with two fingers and nodded. Harry was sure he only imagined him saying _nice, I like'em tall_ before Louis walked behind a ski stand.

He definitely did.

When Louis asked about his shoe size, his hearing played tricks on him again, because why would he compare the size of his feet to the size of another part of his body. Really.

"Okay, we're almost ready." Louis beamed at him, leaning two Nitro snowboards against the partition. He reached for a small tool box under the table and pulled it out. He took one of the boards, the longer one with a black and white design, and lowered it on the floor. Pointing at the pair of snowboard boots beside him, he told Harry to try them on. He didn't have to lace them all the way up, only see if they would fit okay. Harry did as asked and when he decided they were comfortable enough, Louis slid the snowboard closer and started adjusting the binding.

When he was finally satisfied with it, he droped the screwdriver in the box and shoved it back. He slipped into the other pair of boots, shrugged a jacket on, a black one with raspberry lining and details.

"Shouldn't you be wearing the ski school clothes instead?" Harry wondered, looking him up.

Louis paused and blinked at him. "Well, I should, but the pants are way too tight on my -" He coughed and Harry didn't even know his eyes wandered off to Louis' behind. "- arse, and I prefer my own clothes while on snowboard." Harry gulped and quickly nodded, hoping Louis hadn't notice that. Of course he had.

"These look good." Harry mumbled and Louis batted his lashes at him. "Thanks. Don't go telling on me, okay?" He pulled his iPhone out of the inner pocket of his ski instructor jacket, checked it quickly and slipped it inside his chest pocket.

"Right on time again." He flashed Harry a smile, reminding him he didn't actually know how long was he in this for. When he asked him about it, Louis said. "We're booked for 2,5 hours. The first half an hour is usually for setting up the equipment and stuff. We have whole two hours for the actual thing now." He bumped his shoulder and started pushing Harry towards the door. "Let's make you a snowboarder, then."

 

-

 

Louis had a ski pass ready for Harry, but told him they didn't need it just yet, the place when he would show Harry the basics was close enough to reach on foot. When they did, Harry was glad to see it was abandoned as making a complete tit out of himself in front of hundreds of people wasn't something he fancied doing.

They stopped on top of one particulary wide and not very steep hill. Louis flipped his snowboard upside down and sat it on the snow, making sure it wouldn't slide away.

"I'll be on foot for a while 'cause it's easier like that for you, alright?" He smiled, taking his sunglasses off and letting them hang from the collar of his hoodie. It was warm enough for them to leave their jacket unzipped. Unless you've planned to roll around in the snow a lot. Harry probably have, since it was the first thing he did after Louis helped him to strap into his board. He tried to stand up and ended up with a mouthful of snow before he knew it.

"Oh come on, Harry. It happens to everyone." Louis laughed. "Stop frowning and get up. At least you know how far it is to the ground, now." He said jokingly and reached out for Harry's hands to help him up.

Harry kept mumbling but managed to stand up and actually remain so after that.

It went surprisingly well from there. Harry was sliding down the hill practicing his balance, Louis showing Harry how to stand with his knees bent and body straight, always there if Harry needed to hold on something or to prevent him from falling down. Soon enough Harry was ready to try the falling leaf technique.

They climbed up the hill and Louis reached for his bag to get two bottles of Sprite out, offering one to Harry again.

"It's not as bad as I thought. " Harry admitted and sipped the cold drink slowly.

"Harry, we've only just begun, don't jinx it." He sassed but laughed right after. "No, I'm kidding. You'll be alright, love." He patted his shoulder and Harry rolled his eyes playfully.

Zipping up the bag, both bottles secured inside, Louis adjusted the straps and put it on his back. Flipping his snowboard over with one feet, he looked up at Harry. "If you're good enough, we won't be coming back up here." He explained and Harry's eyes popped out. "We're slowly going to leaf-fall down the hill and if you're up for it when we get there, we'll take the lift up over there -" He raised a hand and pointed behind Harry's shoulder, waiting for him to focus on the short downhill course about a mile away from them. "- and continue practicing without having to climb the hill on our own all the time."

"Um. Alright."

Louis strapped himself into his board and stood up casually. With a small swing of his hips, he slid closer to Harry, aligning their snowboards side by side. He gripped Harry by his shoulders and looked him in the eyes.

"Harry, you'll be good. Don't worry. I'm here for you and I wouldn't let anything happen to you, alright? I'll take care of you." Harry felt a reassuring squeeze at his biceps. "Do you trust me, Harry?"

Blue eyes locked with the green pair and Harry knew he'd trusted him with his own life.

"I trust you."

 

-

 

"So, the lifts can be really tricky." Louis warned him, when they were seated on one of the chairlifts and on their way up, each of them having only one foot strapped in. Louis made sure they were the only ones on the seat even if it was originally for four people. Nobody argued, wishing them a nice day and good luck with getting off for the first time, as Louis translated for Harry later. That was the thing, the getting off part, which was slighty more difficult than actually getting on. "But there's plenty of space up there and not many people around on this one so don't worry too much." He tried to calm Harry down a bit, because he was getting a little nervous. Louis had no idea it was because of a sudden problem with heights, though.

"Anyway!" Louis exclaimed and reached inside his jacket to get his iPhone out. "Let's take a selfie before my face freezes into some ridiculous grimace up here." He opened his front camera and reached out, trying to fit them both in the picture. It didn't work very well at first, so he leaned closer to Harry, pressing their red cheeks together and took another one.

Harry's fear of heights was cured when Louis remained leaning against his side, showing him the picture and making him choose a filter for it. Even in the fresh cold air, he could smell a faint hint of Sprite in his breath and something else, that was clearly just  _Louis_.

**Author's Note:**

> Done for tonight.
> 
> In the end I guess I'll be writing in chapters bc I don't think I'd be able to finish the whole story all at once so fast. I didn't even expect it to be longer than some 3K words one shot. And wow, would you look at that? Haha.
> 
> Also huge thanks for some 10 kudos and 90 hits in the first 6 hours. That's definitely not something I expected or am used to. So. Thanks. Really.  
> -xxx


End file.
